As the adage goes, history is written by the winners.
Today, in the United States, it is written by and for the 1%. Or is it the .0001 percent?
How important is it for all fifth-graders in the state of Tennessee to know these names?
A reader writes:
“Bill Gates & Sam Walton just wrote themselves write into our children’s history lessons!
Part of the Common Core Curriculum for 5th graders in TN:
“5.87 Identify and explain the significant achievements of entrepreneurs and innovators including but not limited to:
Ray Kroc
Lee Iacocca
Sam Walton
Bill Gates
Jeff Bezos
Michael Dell
Steve Jobs
Mark Zuckerberg”
http://www.tn.gov/education/ci/doc/Fifth_grade_D1.pdf”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
An astounding layer of arrogance added to the already remarkable layers.
An arrogant Dagwood sandwich.
And this, too:
5.88 Explain the reasons for and outcome of the Supreme Court cash Bush v. Gore and its impact on the election of 2000. (P)
5.89 Analyze the increase in terrorism, tragedies of September 11, 2001, the intervention in Afghanistan, and the war in Iraq. (H)
5.90 Identify the significance of the election of 2008, including the primary run of Hillary Clinton and election of Barack Obama. (H)
So does this count as your history/SS standards?
Are these ten year olds merely supposed to regurgitate informational text and not formulate an opinion since, according to Coleman, no one gives a poop what you think anyway?
Memorization of facts…..is that all they got?
the current winners, cultural marxists.
This would be more horrifying if I didn’t already know that if it’s not tested, we aren’t supposed to “waste” our time teaching it. I’ll be more concerned when it shows up as a test question.
Reading posts like this is like watching a train wreck, except for the fact that this is no accident.
We won’t be allowed to see or discuss the test questions…those who have the most experience and skills are to be marginalized and left in the dark.
Just follow orders please, proceed to your next scripted lesson and pass out the tablets.
Be a good Stepford trainer now and don’t make waves. They are WATCHING:
Sometimes I think this can’t get anymore disgusting and then you post something like this, and then I think no it actually can.
I am beyond horrified and truly speechless.
Carol,
I don’t know you. I read your common core book. I read your comments and I admire you. Help!
When is the madness going to end? I am so grateful for Diane, but how much are they going to destroy before citizens wake up?
the new pearson textbooks are appalling idiocy, rewritten history and glorifying phonys like al gore and bill gates . common core strikes again, cult of personality….. shades of giant posters of MAO.
Reblogged this on Round the Inkwell and commented:
You really cannot make it up. Horrifying….
since mark zuckerberg is on that 5th grade common core list may i remind all of his recent purchase of the facebook media site ” BANG WITH FRIENDS ” in essence it is a pimp service on facebook now. porn. so our 10 year olds are being taught to glorify this dubious individual who peddles porn. this is common core. allso scholastic’s little dubious magazine called ” CHOICES’hand out in 6th grade has an issue devoted to helping your 11 year old start a blog. and another one that teaches them they are entitled to a ” personal Life” and that prying parents can be kept at bay by being sure to tell them a little trivia so they wont snoop. so schools are now working hand in hand to keep our children surfing the net, and keeping it secret. lifeskills. horrifying.
0% The number of questions pertaining to the Civil War on the North Carolina U.S. History common exam…I guess we left that out since we lost
Honestly? That has to be the second most significant era of Amer hist. other than the Revolution. Crazy!!
What grade?
H.S. Jr.
I’m almost speechless, and that is highly unusual. Surely there are innovators from the so-called Modern Era who were not included in this list…you know, the people whose ideas these rich guys bought and developed. My brother worked for the Grand Alliance of engineers on the broadcasting standard for digital high definition TV. He had a proto-type HDTV in his lab in the late 80s. Why isn’t HE on this list? Oh, that’s right…he doesn’t have all the money.
Are we in the midst of the fall of the American education system? It’s looking like it! 😦 Thank you Diane for your updates… Thank you Carol too. I do hope that this madness ends soon.
http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/
Personally I think Steve Jobs should be there. His idea of education did have some of the bad elements in it and lacked some perspective but his own desire for education matches a creative curve. At least, he never attempted to take on education and destroy it. I do wish he had perspective on labor fights in this country and hadn’t been so impressed with having Chinese live in a factory on little food and doing his bidding without being with family. That did occur here and labor put a stop to it.
Not a social movement leader, woman or person of color on the suggested list. Not a scientist, artist, or writer….what a limited view of our world!
What? Where’s Michelle Rhee 😉
She will be listed under the DSM-IV or 5….category to be determined.
Love all the women on this list!
Of course any TN history textbook will not discuss how the Walton family exploits workers. Nor will it describe the Chinese slave labor factories that manufacture iPhones.
The link you provided, Dr. Ravitch, takes me to a site which states,
“We have updated our site recently, so the page you are looking for may be moved. You can search for it in the box above, or use one of the links below.”
Did I miss something or has this site been immediately altered?
Yes, it has been altered, but I saved it in my iBooks, so I can still cut and paste. Let me see.
See if this works:
Click to access Fifth_grade_D1.pdf
Thanks, Linda. The link worked.
Save it to your hard drive before it disappears. It was my understanding from readings that the SS/history standards were top secret. Looks like we are not supposed to know.
Good advice … crazy times.
The link works if you remove ” (which are the extra symbols past pdf in the url).
Click on the link and once it is in your url box, backspace on those extra symbols to eliminate them, then click return.
What amazes me reading through the doc is the sheer volume of historical events you might expect a college history major to “compare, explain, analyze, interpret, identify, blah blah blah, but a 5th grader? Paleeeze!
It’s like these people just can’t help themselves!
Isn’t the curriculum all about getting student ready for college? How many on the list actually DID NOT finish college… And are super successful!!! Guess its not all about drilling core curriculum… There is much to be said for ambition, drive, perseverance and just gut intuition… Can’t teach that!!! Can’t test that!!!
Diane, please tell this commenter that it is well past April 1. Or does this fall in the category of “you can’t make this sh-, stuff up”? Every time I think nothing more will surprise me, someone finds something.
Yes, it does but it took a few tries before it came up.
That’s a ridiculous curriculum document for 5th grade. It’s level of density is more suited for college. Just very very very stupid. It isn’t, however, the Common Core. There are no Common Core social studies standards. They tried to do it, but backed of for an undisclosed reason. This is part of Tennessee’s local curriculum work, not the CCSS … and it’s also a draft.
I Forgot – Thanks!!
Hi all – I think this post needs some clarification. There is a difference between COMMON CORE and STATE STANDARDS. What is being talked about here are TN state standards. I agree with most of the comments, that these specific standards are very selective and horrifying. Texas had a similar horrifying shift back in 2010 that ultimately became a battle of religion, class, gender, and political leanings.
I do think it is important to clarify that the Common Core State Standards are all skills based – not fact based (at least the ELA ones that I’ll be teaching next year in Michigan). I MUCH prefer the Common Core State Standards than poorly written (as evidenced here) state standards. At least the Common Core is about skills (that can be taught in a variety of ways).
The scary part, I think, is that I have no idea what the standardized test will look like (no doubt it will vary from state to state), how it will be assessed, or who will do the assessing.
I think it should be noted that this is not part of the Common Core. Each state had the option of accepting them as is or adding 15% of their own content. This must have been part of TN’s 15%.
Are these history/SS standards? Here in CT we have not seen any standards for this content area. What state are you in?
Linda, the CCSSO attempt at common core social studies standards failed (too much controversy, from what I understand). What was produced was a framework that states can use to develop their own standards if they so choose. I don’t know if this framework has been officially released yet. I thought I had heard it would be sometime this month.
Susanne, I think you are confusing the ELA and Math CCSS with accepting as is with the option of adding an additional 15%.
I guess Gates’ education must have been horrid. His lame ideas caused MUCH HARM.
It’s good to be king!
I am speechless. The arrogance of these guys knows no limits.
As I am sure you all have seen and read, there are some frightening rewrites of history, particularly in states that are anti-science and pro-religion-in-school. It is as if denying facts can be justified by just relegating them to nonexistence. If this isn’t Orwellian, what is?
It’s over for the United States…it really just is….I just can’ be positive about the future of education or a free society anymore
Ray Kroc: Helped create an epidemic of Type II diabetes in American children.
Lee Iacocca: Man behind the Ford Pinto – “Safety doesn’t sell.”
Sam Walton: Responsible for the decimation of small businesses across America.
Good thing the state of Tennessee is keeping its local school districts “accountable” by forcing schools to teach abut how awesome these guys were!
I have begun to feel “invisible” in the sense that no amount of education will fix the situation we have to face. It permeates society and therefore it permeates education. We now have those in government who only perceive things based on word of mouth anecdotal “truths” that fear science and advocate a very narrow view of the world. They are attempting to put the genie back in the bottle. As long as they can control the money, they will be able to control the dialogue.
In all this stuff about getting more kids to graduate college they’re not exactly role models:
Ray Kroc – dropped out of high school (to serve in WW1)
Bill Gates – dropped out of Harvard College
Michael Dell – dropped out of University of Texas
Steve Jobs – dropped out of Reed College
Mark Zuckerberg – dropped out of Harvard College
Lee Iacocca – graduated Lehigh University
Sam Walton -graduated from the University of Missouri
Jeff Bezos – graduated from Princeton University
(Thanks to Wikipedia)
Thank you for sharing this about Tennessee standards. New York just released high school reading lists for English. Some interesting choices:
Grade 9: The Stranger, “The Depressive and the Psychopath,” The Metamorphosis, The Scarlet Letter, 1984.
Grade 10: The Double Helix, Song of Solomon, The Curious Life of Human Cadavers, Stanford Prison Experiment, The Communist Manifesto, Crime and Punishment
Grade 11: Beyond the Beautiful Forevers, Anatomy of a Face, The Inferno
Grade 12: The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives, Brokeback Mountain
Full list here: http://engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachments/9-12-ela-text-list.docx
What strikes me about the 9th grade novels and Crime and Punishment for 10th grade is that even most kids who have a robust enough vocabulary and strong reading skills aren’t really going to “get” those books. The same is true for upperclassmen, too, of course. Returning to books as you mature and have more life experience opens levels of meaning in good books. But if a kid is turned off by a book that’s over his head in 9th grade, it makes it lesslikely he’ll read it again later. Unfortunately, that appears to be of no concern for Common Core folks.
I didn’t read the Stranger and Crime and Punishment until I was in AP English as a senior. I didn’t “get” them, even then. We called the Stranger, “The Strangest.”
Interesting choices. I wonder why the elites want the kids to read “1984” and “The Communist Manifesto.” Both of those works may cut a bit too close for comfort. I am perplexed. These books would not be in the ruling classes’ best interests. Actually, they could lead to disenchantment, refusal to work for slave wages, etc. I will have to talk to my local billionaires. This must be changed now! I am appalled by these choices!
Yes. Perhaps you should start a virtual letter-writing campaign. Paper and pen is so passé. 😛
I believe this literature may be less threatening to the oligarchy than one might think. 1984 warns about big government, which the conservative right agrees with, not that corporations will be one day owning and controlling the government. And I think we have enough evidence from history that communism is too subject to corruption and likely to result in dictatorship to be a viable threat to democracy in the U.S. today.
The oligarchy is already a done deal in America. The elites know that and they also know that it will take a major effort for us to take back power from them and overcome their reign. Since the elites have been able to gain power with the stealth of ALEC and the support of politicians they have bought, most common people have not even noticed that this has happened, let alone moved to take action against it. Sadly, the masses don’t feel threatened any more than the oligarchs do. But if the oligarchs are accused of trying to subvert the masses, they can point to something like this to demonstrate that’s not the case and feign disbelief.
I”m surprised the Koch Brothers aren’t on that list.
If the TN Common Core “State” standards aren’t proof of who the victors are, as they capture their spoils, I don’t know what is. With assessments tied to these standards set to role out, you can be sure that if our children don’t provide answers to closed-ended questions that define these entrepreneurs and their ilk in a positive light, and define history consistent with their perceptions of it, then our kids, teachers and schools will be labeled as failures. This is the most insidious propaganda outreach possible, short of outright book-burning and book-banning, and with dire consequences for non-compliance.
The top 1% are not satisfied with their billions and want even more wealth and power. This is enabled by Neo-Liberal doctrines supporting the primacy of unregulated free markets, as evidenced in the privatization of public education, collecting, warehousing and sharing data on public school students (which will also be including workplace data), and changing FERPA regulations, stripping our children of their privacy rights, so that edu-preneurs can hawk edu-schlock –while the offspring of oligarchs are safely protected in private schools.
According to Independent Senator Bernie Sanders from VT, “Today, virtually no piece of legislation can get passed unless it has the ok from corporate America.”
We already have an oligarchy, a country that has been bought and is being run by the 1%. That is why it is accepted that “Fraud is the business model on Wall Street” and it’s also why banksters have not been indicted for crashing the economy. The oligarchy was enabled by ALEC, self-serving politicians and policy makers, as well as the Supreme Court’s ruling supporting “Citizens” United and the claim that corporations are people, so they can effectively buy most elections legally. That will require a constitutional amendment to overturn –not an easy task since it must be ratified by 75% of the states.
The gaps between the haves and have-nots continue to expand. The top 1% owns 40% of the wealth, including the Waltons who have more wealth than the combined wealth of 155 million people. The bottom 60% of America owns less than 2% of the wealth.
Sanders says it will take a strong grassroots movement to turn the tide. TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW that this is not a conspiracy THEORY; it is a real live conspiracy in action. People don’t hear much about it in the media because the 1% owns mainstream media, so take advantage of social media.
EVERY election matters, so voters cannot afford to be apathetic, because our primary recourse is voting politicians who have been bought out of office and replacing them with ethical people who care about the 99% and have been vetted.
What more does America need to wake up? Nothing has changed since most Americans first learned of the inequitable distribution of wealth in America, when the Occupy movement was launched. You MUST take action NOW! There are many ways to do so. Teach the truth and explain all sides. Change your purchasing practices, such as by not shopping at Walmart and not buying products made by the Koch Brothers. See list here: http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/02/dont-buy-these-products-from-koch-industries/ Form grassroots groups to take back America from the oligarchy and to quash neo-liberal policies.
Although this video was aired before the election last November, it still applies today, so please watch it:
Bill Moyers’ talk with Bernie Sanders
OS,
Thank you for that illuminating list. I shall add them to the list of items I will not purchase anymore.
Ironic that the Koch brothers profit off the sale of products that clean up messes, specifically $hit.
I was on a committee in Ohio preparing for the upcoming CC for Social Studies. There was an appalling lack of high school requirements for students. The CC was being used as a framework to design the curriculum loosely at the state standards level, allowing for local districts to teach their own curriculum, with online sharing of goals, activities, and assessments.
The thing we were being told was that there were now only two ODE employees who were working on the SS standards. The online availability was still being established. There seemed to be little interest at the state level at that time. I had volunteered to attend the meetings. I taught 4th grade. No one from our HS was even involved.
I retired but know nothing of what has become of this. It was eye-opening.
No women. What a surprise.
They could have included Michelle Rhee . . .
My thoughts exactly. Not even one token woman, but then, cults like fraternities are gender exclusive.
“He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” – George Orwell
There it is!
Perhaps the readers of this blog could construct a reading list for each grade that all would agree includes all and only the important works for students to read.
You’re being sarcastic, right, teachingeconomist? (I really hope you are).
Not really. Most of the comments here are criticizing particular works on the reading list. This has come up in the past in discussions of the common core. No doubt the folks here could construct a reading list that all would agree are clearly superior those proposed for the common core. The blog could propose it as an alternative.
Free choice reading is the way to go..see here:
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6367048.html
I will give you another link, however, similar to Joe, I don’t think you really want an answer as much as you want to argue and nitpick. If we created a list, then you would argue about the merits of the list.
Teachers are professionals and we can determine book choices based upon our students’ strengths, dreams, interests, aspirations, etc.. And these recommendations can change from student to student, period to period, year to year.
Imagine that!
No doubt teachers can choose reading lists, but from comments here I would assume you would object to any teacher choosing the reading list associated with the common core.
Wrong, don’t assume. My students make choices and I support them making a wide range of options available to them, and with parental approval.
Good to know that you do not think the common core is riddled with developmentally inappropriate work.
I am certainly in favor of students making choices, perhaps even a wider range of choices than you are comfortable with.
You know nothing about what I am comfortable with…don’t be so pompous.
I had thought you were against allowing students to choose schools. I stand corrected.
And here books are recommended by kids to kids:
http://www.c-t-l.org/high_school_readers.html
One more coming your way.m
From kids to kids, K-8:
http://www.c-t-l.org/kids_recommend.html
I can’t imagine everyone here agreeing to any one reading list no matter how long.
So you think that people here are not really objecting to a reading list because of its link to the common core, but are simply objecting to this reading list as they would object to any reading list?
You must be a barrel of fun at a party.
Linda, surely you have figured out by now that TE is an inveterate contrarian. If you say yes, he says no. If you say no, he says yes.
I should just ignore I suppose. Round and round we go and we get nowhere.
Have a great week. Sprlng is finally here!
But Dr. Ravitch, we agree in the importance of stronger teacher training, improved compensation, and peer evaluation of teachers. A half contrarian perhaps?
As a parent I like choices, as I’m sure my children would. Suggested lists for my children to choose and to decide through discussion, introspective thinking and research. Imaging that, experiential learning.
“A half contrarian perhaps?”
Depends, Mary, Mary. Does your garden half grow? 😛
Thinking back, Dr. Ravitch and I have agreed on many points. A short list of a few points:
Teachers should be evaluated by their peers. There was a very interesting discussion about this over the summer about the program in Montgomery County.
Teacher training in schools of education needs to be improved at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Teacher pay needs to be increased. I do differ from some who post here because I believe that teacher pay need not be uniform over subject areas, years taught, or degrees earned.
There are both terrible and good charter schools.
Virtual classes are not as good as a well taught physical class. I would add that there are a number of cases where a well taught physical class may not be a viable alternative.
Politicians can always make poor decisions, harming the institutions and those that depend on those institutions.
No doubt there are more places of agreement, but that is a start.
TE: You’re actually demonstrating how contrary you are just by contesting Diane’s assertion that you are a contrarian. Do you even realize that you’ve done it again? It happens so often that it’s difficult to keep a tab on what besides choice you support.
Interesting. If I disagree with a policy position here I am a contrarian. If I agree with a policy position here I am a contrarian. That’s a heck of a catch, your catch 22.
” I do differ from some who post here because I believe that teacher pay need not be uniform over subject areas, years taught, or degrees earned.”
Oh, please DO explain how you justify which subjects merit more pay, and why teachers with advanced degrees should not be compensated for their time, money and effort to better themselves as professionals.
To the question of salary, salary differences would depend on how easy it is to hire the people you want to fill the positions you need to fill. This is routine in higher education where differences even in starting salaries can be in the tens of thousands depending on fields of study.
Automatic increases in salary based on number of degrees earned serve as a subsidy to education schools. Many of these programs are moving on line. If the school district wants to subsidize further education for teachers, better it should pay for a portion of the cost of the degree than guarantee a salary increase. Salary increases should be the result of stronger teaching as evaluated by the teachers peers. As it is, education schools and teachers are splitting the salary bumps between each other, distorting the education schools and forcing teachers to pay a high price for what is, in some cases, a very low value program.
Other Spaces, maybe he ought to watch the Monty Python episode about arguments:
Man 1: I came here for an argument, but you’re just contradicting me!
Man 2: No, I’m not.
Man 1:Yes, you are!
Man 2: No, I’m not.
(bell dings indicating time is up)
Man 2: (smiles) GOOD morning!
🙂
No, TE. You disagree with virtually everything, as once again you’ve just shown, and still you don’t recognize how you do this. Not going to get pulled into it any further. The End.
Great idea, LG! Here’s The Argument Clinic full sketch (maybe we should start charging, too.)
Are there any entrepeneurs and innovators who are not white guys?
There are CEOs, like Sherry Lansing, Meg Whitman, Marissa Mayer, and Oprah, and most fund corporate ed “reform,” so maybe they’ll make it on the next list.
The section that lists those names is “Modern America” and I assume this lesson is to teach about modern businessmen/innovators. I don’t really see an issue with that list If you were to ask me who the more successful entrepreneurs of our times are, I would probably have some of those names on my list. It could actually be a good starting point for students to research how the products/services offered by these businessmen changed how we live and the economy- both the good and the bad.
I was happy to see Sojourner Truth and Clara Barton mentioned in an the earlier part.
My biggest beef is it seemed to neglect the work and innovations of immigrants – particularly Nikola Tesla.
Vic Mills and Norma Baker invented Pampers, which I would consider of equal importance to Facebook. Here is an interesting article on more varied billion dollar products. http://www.cbc.ca/undertheinfluence/season-2/2013/03/09/post/
There was an interesting article in today’s New York Times about the increasing interest historians have in successful entrepreneurs. I thought The First Tycoon: the epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by TJ Stiles a very interesting book.
The History channel has been running an interesting series, “The Men Who Built America,” covering Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Cornelius Vanderbilt.
http://www.history.com/shows/men-who-built-america/articles/about-men-who-built-america
I get the feeling that many of today’s oligarchs have taken pages from the lives of these guys, but some probably think they were wusses for not aiming to profit off their philanthropy:
Well, a generation and more ago, students learned about Rockefeller, Morgan, Carnegie, Innovators like Henry Ford, Edison, etc. The modern innovators and entrepreneurs mirror the old ones. There’s nothing wrong with the list of people you shared…..unless you’re a jealous Socialist.
It does not take a “Socialist” to see insatiable greed written all over today’s billionaire entrepreneurs and their aims to make further profits from their venture “philanthropy.”
Just a casual observer can readily recognize such avarice, as well as how many of these innovators amassed their wealth off the backs of workers they exploit and don’t pay livable wages. That includes the Waltons and others that outsource to Chinese slaves, such as at FoxConn, like Gates, Dell and Jobs –an Information Age “upgrade” from the exploitation of workers in the Industrial Age.
Is there a list of people who fought for social justice, or are big money and corporatization the only altars we worship?
Guess you have to be a white male to be an entrepreneur or innovator.
Cathy Albro
Director of Elementary Education
HighScope Educational Research Foundation
600 N. River Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48198
Ph: 734.485.2000 Ext. 243 Fax: 734.485.5560
calbro@highscope.org , highscope.org
I guess there have been several shifts in the public and the professional expectations placed upon teachers in the past 40 years. When I became a teacher in 1974, changes were being rolled out almost from day one. I became a teacher to make a difference. I feel that I did, right up to my retirement. It has always been true that educational philosophy has gone through cycles.
At some point, maybe the 1980’s, teachers began to make a living wage. Salary schedules that had been indexed for years were suddenly a tool for helping teachers receive much more compensation. It ballooned into some very good salaries for those with more degrees and experience. All the while, health insurance kept rising. These salaries and benefits began to outpace the willingness of taxpayers to pay. As the economy tanked, we experienced a backlash.
My personal salary flat-lined the last 5 years of my employment. Just like other members of society, insurance costs went up along with the price of food, fuel, etc. We continued, as did others in different professions, had to make due and to do more with less.
There has been an influx of technical change and a rush to implement those changes , as well as changes in standards and pedagogy. Teaching, which is a time consuming job by nature, became a more intense juggle of meeting expectations from every direction. Given the fact that many, if not most, teachers are givers, not takers, the constant criticism from all directions began to take toll on many dedicated veteran teachers. They tried to give 100% and more to all aspects of their responsibilities.
For me, the most difficult thing to deal with was the constant stress, and even with students who were successful and working in a district that achieved “Excellence with Distinction”, we never really felt like we were doing enough.
As Ohio’s legislature and governor joined the ranks of other states that were focusing on smearing unions and teachers, the stress continued to build. So, here we are today.
We now know that stress is responsible for many health issues as we age. We are providing students, teachers, districts, and parents with unnecessary stress.
I am passionately interested in the future of education, but all I see is a future of misplaced evaluations and assumptions giving no individual appreciation to lives of sacrifice and service.
WE THE PEOPLE are steadily chipping away at the corporate-state education reform agenda by way of continuously informing ourselves daily of it and its operation, informing others, legitimately organizing, pursuing litigation (via individual and class-action suits), strategically divesting/boycotting, pushing forth with forced resignations/firings of those political operatives and business folks who implement/execute the policies of the corporate-state education reform agenda, exposing the corrupt who also facilitate the agenda via various channels and bringing them to accountability, etc. WE THE PEOPLE just need to keep at it. Enjoy the good fight! http://www.scribd.com/doc/106337306/THE-CHICAGO-PUBLIC-SCHOOLS-ALLERGIC-TO-ACTIVISM